TORONTO – Alexei Ramirez hit a three-run homer to help lift the Tampa Bay Rays to a 6-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.
Steven Souza Jr., also homered for the Rays (61-83), and Logan Forsythe had an RBI.
Drew Smyly (7-11) went 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with one walk and four strikeouts. The Tampa left-hander hasn’t lost a game since July 18 at Colorado, his first start after the all-star break.
Russell Martin drove in two with a home run for the Blue Jays (79-65) and Devon Travis had a single in the seventh inning to extend his hit streak to a season-high 10 games.
Marcus Stroman (9-8) shouldered the loss after a six-inning outing. The young right-hander allowed three runs on four hits with four strikeouts and four walks.
The Blue Jays opened their September schedule by losing three consecutive series for the first time this season, slipping down the AL East standings from first to second in the process. They could lose a fourth straight series with a defeat in Wednesday afternoon’s finale.
Toronto and Baltimore are tied for the first AL wild card after the Orioles beat Boston 6-3 on Tuesday. Both clubs are two games back of the Red Sox for top spot in the AL East division.
Tampa got on the board in the fifth with Ramirez’s three-run shot off Stroman. Corey Dickerson, who hit a one-out double, and Souza Jr., who reached on his second walk of the game, also scored.
Martin cut the deficit to 3-2 with his two-out, two-run homer off Smyly in the sixth. The Canadian catcher followed a Jose Bautista walk by sending a 75 mile-per-hour slider into the second deck in left for his 18th home run of the season.
Ryan Garton came on in relief of Smyly and promptly gave up a base hit to Troy Tulowitzki. A ground ball from Melvin Upton Jr., ended the inning.
Tampa got a run back in the seventh with Souza Jr.’s 17th homer of the season — a solo shot to left-centre field off reliever Joe Biagini. Biagini, who hadn’t allowed a home run in his first 49 appearances, has given up three in his last four.
The Rays added two more runs in the ninth. Forsythe scored Dickerson from third with a force out off Scott Feldman and Souza Jr., scored on a wild pitch from Aaron Loup.
The Blue Jays left seven men on base. They threatened in the bottom of the seventh, loading the bases on two hits and a walk, but Edwin Encarnacion struck out to end the inning.
All-star third baseman Josh Donaldson sat out a second straight game with a hip injury. Manager John Gibbons said Donaldson jarred his right hip while running to first base in Sunday’s loss to Boston.
The Rogers Centre, which hosted 38,338 for Tuesday’s game, surpassed 3 million fans on the season for the first time since 1993 when Toronto last won a World Series and the stadium was still called SkyDome.
NOTES: Damian Warner of London, Ont., the Olympic bronze medallist in decathlon in Rio, threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Canadian outfielder Dalton Pompey.